This year, trick-or-treating was a little different. Max and Maverick split off with their friends while Bev, Harvey, Andy and I went around with Afton and Lindsay. We all had a good time and the Kids wound up with way too much candy.
I really can’t believe my boys are old enough to trick-or-treat with friends, but they did have their friends’ dad slowly trailing behind them to make sure they were ok. I also an’t believe it is already November, the first week just disappeared and we are nearly two weeks from Thanksgiving.
I’ll take the rest of this post to share a lesson I learned this past week. I fasted yesterday. In my faith, we are encouraged to fast once a month and the money we would spend on food we are asked to donate to the church for those who are less fortunate. This year, whenever I fasted I would wind up in bed or on the toilet with something I discovered is called an abdominal migraine. I’ve already been afflicted with migraines since my early adulthood, so this is new. I decided a couple of months ago I would try to cut out social media and caffeine instead, but this Sunday I thought, let me try it again, I made sure I drank plenty of water on Saturday and ate healthy foods, so surely I would be able to handle fasting.
Sunday morning approached and I was feeling fine. I got the kids ready for church and grabbed them a few snacks for church and threw in an almond and oat bar into my bag just in case I felt a migraine coming on. As sacrament meeting was coming to an end I had all the signs that a migraine was about to hit. I took the kids to their classes and went to the car to eat my snack. I was really hoping that would be enough to keep it from getting worse, but it was little too late. I found myself on my back shortly after returning home from church and was pretty useless the rest of the day because of how awful I felt. I am the type of person that will suffer through, but this is so so rough I barely function. Andy called me on his way home from work and I was struggling. He took over with the kids when he got home and I stayed in bed till 5 when the abdominal migraine had finally subsided. I still had a migraine, but that is totally manageable. I made the kids dinner and finished up the day with Andy and the kids. My neighbor texted, asking if I was ok, and then asked, “Have you learned your lesson yet?” She also sent me this quote from Hank R. Smith, “It’s a myth to think you have to do your best every day for the Savior’s power to work in your life. He is already at work in your life. He is the one giving you the desire to be better. Keep trying, keep believing, keep repenting. He will get you where you hope to be.”
I fasted because I wanted the blessings from fasting, but Lindsay helped me realize that it is where my heart is at and the Lord understands and accepts limitations. (He’s a lot better at doing so than I am).
Brother Smith continues, “If we teach our children they have to be their very best so the Lord can help them and use them in His work, we’re going to end up with a lot of adults with perfection complexes. Instead we can teach that the desire to do better comes from the Lord, the ability to do better comes from the Lord, and the love we feel when we make mistakes comes from the Lord. He doesn’t need perfect obedience. He just needs our willingness.”
I’m not sure if I can get my body ship shape enough to fast again, but I want to. But in the mean time I will have a personal fast that My father in heaven and I know is a personal sacrifice that will help me grow closer to him. I think the Lord is so much more merciful than I understand and I am grateful for it. I also hope and pray for miracles that some day my body will be normal and I can fast again, but until then I will rely upon the Lord and personal revelation.
